Alternative proteins for gluten-free products

An attractive approach to improve the quality of gluten-free (GF) products can be provided by proteins. Based on their exploitation of the GF food industry, three main categories of protein have been identified. The main category concerns those protein sources that have been first explored and include rice, soybean, potato, whey, casein, and white eggs. The most utilized substitution level ranges from 2% to 15%. Different functional effects have been observed, depending on their source, addition levels and basic formulation of the GF products. The same applies to those proteins that have shown a potential role in creating gluten-like structures. In this case cereals, legumes and oilseeds have been the most assessed sources, with the exploration of some by-products as a new starting point for protein extraction. Thus the incorporation of protein concentrates and isolates primarily improves the nutritional content of foods free from gluten and moreover produces significant changes in the rheology, structure and final quality of the goods. For the last group of proteins, it was decided to give light to algal biomass and insects that have recently been attracting interest owing to their high nutritional value and lower environmental impact. However, the lack of results about their concentrate and isolate forms and a bit of wariness by some consumers are slowing down their exploitation. Nevertheless, more in-depth exploration of the interaction of different protein sources with other food compounds present in the formulation would be needed to assure GF products of higher quality.

Peer reviewed